Marion Cotillard May Co-Star in ARTHUR & LANCELOT [Updated]

Marion Cotillard may be joining Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) and Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) in David Dobkin’s Arthur & Lancelot. According to Vulture, Cotillard has been offered the role of Arthur’s sorceress half-sister, Morgana (aka Morgan le Fay). If the new take on the Arthurian legend keeps with modern portrayals of Morgana, she’ll likely be the film’s villain. If Cotillard passes on the role, expect Warner Bros. to go after someone at a similar level of fame (i.e. an actress who’s better known than TV stars Harington and Kinnaman, but isn’t in the price range of someone like Angelina Jolie or Natalie Portman).

Hit the jump for more details on the film. Arthur & Lancelot is slated to open on March 15, 2012. Cotillard will next be seen in The Dark Knight Rises. She’s also attached to star in the Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) suspense/thriller Rust and Bone. [Update: Representatives for Cotillard have informed us that she’s not involved with Arthur & Lancelot.]

Here’s what Dobkin said about how he adapted the legend of King Arthur:

“I pulled the legend apart. I only kept a few things. I kept certain characters, I recreated the entire launch of the legend and why it starts the way that it starts, I don’t want to give away too much but it’s always had a flaw. I pulled the flaws out, I reinvented the characters as grounded characters. I took a much more realistic and grounded approach towards everybody, you know why would this character be this way and why would this character be that way? You know Arthur’s superpower is compassion and vision. I will tell you this, the whole thing is wrapped around the birth of democracy as a concept and it’s positing Arthur as the first man to say all men are created equal.”

I don’t think that’s true. I think Robin Hood was the first mythical figure to say all men are created equal. I learned that from Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. Maybe the two can have an imaginary encounter where they fake debate the merits of enlightenment ideas.